The Sight rewrite
by Tigercry
Summary: Being an author has its perks, especially when you don't like how a story turned out or how your favorite character faded into the background. So using that perk, I've decided to rewrite The Power of Three and Omen of the Stars arcs for the warriors series. This particular book is part one, the rewrite of 'The Sight'
1. Prologue

_Muddied tree roots shaped a small opening._ In the shadows cast by the roots partially hid the knotted tendrils that cradled the smooth soil floor or a cave, hollowed out by moons of water and wind. A cat's shadow grew along a steep path toward the open of the cave, his green eyes narrowed and glowed faintly in the dark as he neared. His ginger pelt turned to flame in the moonlight that spilled from the mouth of the cave, his ears twitched and the bristling of his fur gave away his unease as he emerged from the shadows of the cave and curled his tail around his paws. "You wanted me to come?" He asked, his quiet mew full of unease.

Deep within the shadows down a different dark area of the cave, a pair of eyes as blue as water reflecting the summer sky blinked at him. A gray tom, his pelt littered with the pink scars of battles and the white hairs of age, padded forward, the moonlight bathing him in light. "Firestar," he mewed and crossed the last few foxlengths of distance before he brushed the THunderClan leader's cheek with his own muzzle flecked with the white fur of his wise age. "I have to thank you," he mewed gratefully, his mew rough due to his many lonely years of little talking and his age. "You have rebuilt the lost Clan, StarClan couldn't have chosen anyone better."

Firestar dipped his head, "there's no need for thanks, I only did what I had to do."

The age worn tom nodded, blinking his blue eyes thoughtfully. "Do you think you have been a good leader for ThunderClan Firestar?" He asked rather curiously.

The fur around Firestar's neck bristling slightly and hed tensed. "I don't know," he mewed in a tense tone, "I've always tried to do what is right for my Clan, even when it wasn't particularly easy."

The old cat seemed to accept his answer as he spoke, "no cat would doubt your loyalty," he mewed before he asked a question that made Firestar look uncertain, "how far would it go?"

Firestar's tail tip twitched uncertaintly and his eyes glinted with the same emotion as he tried to find the words to answer him.

"There are difficult times ahead," the tom went on before Firestar could finish coming up with a reply. "You loyalty will be heavily tested," he mewed before his mew took a criptic tone. "Sometimes the destiny of one cat is not the destiny of the whole Clan." Suddenly the old cat rose stiffly to his paws and stared past Firestar. It seemed he no longer saw the ThunderClan leader but gazed far beyond, to something Firestar could not see. When he spoke once more, the rasp produced by time was gone, as though some other cat was using his tongue.

" _There will be three kin of your kin, joined soon after by a fourth born of a second chance, who hold the power of the stars in their young paws."_

Firestar blinked in confusion, "I don't understand," he mewed, "three kin of my kin? Born of a second chance?" He echoed in confusion, "why are you telling me this?"

The gray tom blinked and his gaze refocused on Firestar.

"You have to tell me more!" Firestar demanded, "how am I supposed to know what to do if you don't explain?"

The old tom took a deep breath, but when he spoke it was only to say, "Farwell, Firestar. As seasons pass, remember me."

Firestar jolted back into awarenes, his fur bristling with fear at the events in the dream. Then he relaxed as he took in the familiar sight of the stone walls of his den in the new ThunderClan camp. Morning sunlight streamed through the split in the rock and the sun's warm rays fell upon him, soothing his fears for the time being.

He heaved himself to his paws and shook his head, trying to shake away the vivid dream. However this had been no ordinary dream, he had been there with that ancient cat and he remembered it as clearly as ever. That was back before Firestar's own daughters hadn't been born and the four Clans had still lived in the forest.

The prophecy had followed him on the Great Journey over the mountains and settled with him in his new home by the lake; and every full moon, the memory of it returned to fill his dreams. Even Sandstorm, who was curled up beside him, knew nothing of the words he had shared with the ancient cat.

His green gaze turned toward the wamp camp below and outside his den. His deputy Brambleclaw, was stretching in the center of the clearing flexing his powerful shoulders as he clawed at the ground in a morning stretch. Firestar's ginger pelted daughter Squirrelflight padded toward her mate, greeting him with a purr. The quiet atmosphere was broken by a sleepy looking Cinderpaw stumbling alongside her mentor, complaining about being woken up way to early.

 _I pray to StarClan that I'm wrong,_ Firestar thought as he settled back down in his nest, yet he had a nagging feeling in his gut that the prophecy was about to reveal itself.

 _The four have come…_


	2. Chapter 1

The leaves that brushed against Jaykit's pelt felt like falling snow, more of them crackled underpaw, frostbitten and so deep that his short legs sunk deep with every paw step. An icy wind pulled harshly at his cobweb soft fur and made him shiver. "Wait for me!" He wailed desperately, he could hear his mother's voice a few mousetails ahead, her warm body was always a few steps out of reach.

"You'll never catch it Lionpaw!" The sound of his sister's high-pitched mew sliced through Jaykit's dream like a claw, and he jolted awake with a start. He pricked his ears, his tail trembling from the vividness from his dream. He listened carefully to the familiar sounds inside the bramble nursery. His littermates were wrestling in play, and Fermcloud was lapping her dozing kits. Jaykit felt relief, there was no snow here, he was in the camp nursery, safe and plenty warm. All around him he could smell his mother's scent clinging to the moss of her nest, still fresh and pungent.

"Oof!" The kit gave a grunt of surprise as his sister, Hollykit, landed heavily on top of him. "Watch out Hollykit!"

Hollykit gasped, her mew bright and lively, "you're awake at last!" She then promptly rolled off of him and pushed her hind paws into his flank as she leaped and twisted, grasping for something just out of her reach.

 _Mouse!_ Jaykit could smell it, his siblings must be playing catch with fresh-kill newly brought into camp. He sprang to his paws and gave a quick stretch that sent a shiver down his tiny body from nose to tail.

"Catch this Jaykit!" Hollykit mewed, her mew muffled by the mouse in her jaws. Moments later Jaykit felt the mouse whistle past his ear. "Slow slug!" She teased as he turned a heartbeat to later to grab it.

"I've got it!" Lionkit called and his paws thudded on the nursery's packed earth floor before the golden tabby pounced on the fresh-kill.

But Jaykit wasn't going to let his brother steal the prize from him that easily, Jaykit may be the smallest of the littler, but he was also the fastest. He leaped toward Lionkit, knocking him out of the way and stretching his forepaw to reach for the mouse. He ended up landing in a clumsy skid and rolled over. Then he realized with a jolt of alarm that it wasn't moss underneath him, but the squirming warmth of Fermcloud's two tiny kits.

Fermcloud gave him a shove, pushing him away from her kits with her hind paws.

Jaykit scrambled to his paws, "have I hurt them?" He gasped, worry lacing his tone.

"Of course not," Ferncloud snapped, "you're too small to squash a flea!" Foxkit and Icekit gave a mewl as she tucked them closer into her belly fur. "But you three are getting to be too rough for the nursery!"

"Sorry Ferncloud," Hollykit mewed, her mew apologetic and sincere.

"Sorry," Lionkit echoed, his paws scuffing against the ground.

"Sorry," Jaykit echoed his siblings, apologetic even though Ferncloud's comment had stung him. At least the queen's anger wouldn't last long, she would easily forgive kits she had suckled when Squirrelflight's milk had not come. It was Ferncloud who had fed Jaykit, Hollykit, and Lionkit in the moons before Ferncloud's kits were born.

"It's about time Firestar made you three apprentices and moved you all to the apprentice den," Ferncloud meowed as she nuzzled her small kits.

"If only," Lionkit gave a heavy sigh and Jaypaw's ear twitched at the sound of him batting at the mouse with a large forepaw.

"It won't be long now," Hollykit pointed out, "we're almost six moons old!"

Jaykit felt the familiar surge of excitement as he imagined becoming an apprentice warrior. He couldn't wait to begin his training. But without even seeing Ferncloud's face, he could sense the flicker of doubt that prickled through the queen's pelt and knew that she was looking at him with pity in her eyes. The fur around his neck bristled with frustration—he was just as ready to become an apprentice as Hollykit and Lionkit!

"Well you're not six moons yet!" Ferncloud answered Hollykit, having not been aware that Jay had sensed her moment of unease. "And until you are, you three can do your playing outside!" she ordered briskly.

"Yes Fermcloud," Lionkit replied meekly before he perked up and excitement filled his mew, "let's go see if Cinderpaw's here!" The branches of the bramble bush shook as he charged from the nursery, his earlier apology completely forgotten.

"Come on, Jaykit," Hollykit called, "and bring the mouse with you." The branches of the bramble bush rustled once more as she slid out through the nursery entrance after their littermate.

Jaykit carefully picked up the mouse with his teeth, it was newly killed and soft so he didn't want to make it bleed -they could still have a good, clean game with it. Once he had the mouse safely in his jaws he squeezed out after his littermates. The barbs of the entrance clawed satisfyingly at his fur, sharp enough to tug at his pelt but not so sharp that they hurt him.

The air outside smelled crisp and frosty, Dustpelt sat near Firestar and Sandstorm as the latter two shared tongues below Highledge.

"...We should be thinking about expanding the warriors' den," the dark tabby advised his ginger pelted leader, "it's crowded already and Daisy and Sorreltail's kits won't remain apprentices forever."

 _Nor will we once we get there!_ Jaykit thought with satisfaction.

Brightheart and Cloudtail were grooming each other in a pool of sunlight on the other side of the clearing. Jaykit could hear the steady lapping of their tongues like water dripping from a rain-soaked leaf. Like all the ThunderClan cats, their pelts were leaf-bare thick, but the muscles beneath had grown lean with scarce prey and hard hunting.

Hunger was not the only hardship leaf-bare had brought. Molepaw, one of Sorreltail's kits, had died of a cough that had not responded to Leafpool's herbs, and Rainwhisker had been killed during a storm, struck by a falling branch.

Brightheart paused from her washing. "How are you today, Jaykit?"

Jaykit placed the mouse between his paws, safe from Hollykit's grasp. "I'm fine, of course," he meowed. Why did Brightheart have to make such a fuss over him? He'd only been sleeping in the nursery, not out raiding ShadowClan territory! It was like she was always keeping her one good eye on him. Eager to prove to the she-cat that he was just as strong as his brother and sister, Jaykit flung the mouse high over Hollykit's head.

As Lionkit thundered past him and grappled with Hollykit to be the first to catch it, Squirrelflight's voice sounded from the side of the nursery. "You should show more respect for your prey!" Their mother was busy pressing leaves into gaps in the prickly walls that surrounded the queens' den.

Daisy was helping her, "kits will be kits," the creamy she-cat purred happily.

Jaykit's nostrils flared at Daisy's strange scent. It was different from the Clanborn cat's, and even some of the warriors still referred to her as a kittypet.

because she had once lived in the horseplace and eaten Twoleg food. Daisy wasn't a warrior because she showed no sign that she ever wished to leave the nursery, but her kits Mousepaw, Hazelpaw, and Berrypaw were apprentices, and it seemed to Jaykit that they were as Clanborn as any of his Clanmates.

"They won't be kits much longer," Squirrelflight told Daisy, sweeping more leaves to her side with her long tail. The brittle rustling noise reminded Jaykit of his dream.

"All the more reason to let them enjoy themselves now," Daisy replied.

Jaykit felt a wave of affection for the milky white she-cat. Though Squirrelflight was his mother, it had been Daisy who had warmed and washed him alongside Ferncloud when Clan duties had kept his mother away from the nursery. Squirrelflight had returned to her warrior duties soon after her kits had been born. Though she still had a nest in the nursery, she used it less and less, preferring to sleep in the warriors' den, where she wouldn't disturb the kits and nurs-

ing queens when she left on early patrols.

"Can you feel the draft now, Ferncloud?" Squirrelflight called through the nursery wall.

"No." Ferncloud's voice drifted out through the tangle of branches. "We're warm as fox cubs in here."

"Good," Squirrelflight meowed. "Can you clear up here, Daisy? I promised Brambleclaw I'd help him check for loose rocks around the hollow."

"Loose rocks?" Daisy gasped.

"It's good to have such solid defenses." Squirrelflight's voice echoed a little as she gazed at the sheer stone cliffs that enclosed the camp on almost every side. "But the frost might have loosened stones, and we don't want them falling into the camp."

Jaykit's attention was distracted by the bitter stench of mouse bile that came from the elders' den. Leafpool must be removing a tick from Longtail or Mousefur. A much nicer odor heralded the return of two of Daisy's kits—Mousepaw and Hazelpaw were bringing fresh-kill back from a hunting expedition. They hurried excitedly into the camp, Mousepaw carrying two mice and Hazelpaw with a large thrush in her jaws. They dropped them at the fresh-kill pile.

Dustpelt padded over to greet them. "Looks like you did well, Hazelpaw!" he praised his apprentice. "You both did." The apprentices purred, and Jaykit noticed how much they sounded like their mother, as though their purrs were muffled by their thick, soft pelts.

A sudden rush of wind and fur knocked Jaykit clear off his paws. "Are you playing with us or not?" Hollykit demanded.

Jaykit leaped up and shook himself, "of course I am!"

"Well Lionkit's got the mouse and He won't let me have it!" Hollykit complained with a whine in her mew.

"Let's go get him then!" Jaykit darted across the clearing toward his brother before he crashed into him and pinned him to the frosty earth while Holly dragged the mouse from Lionkit's claws.

"Unfair!" Lionkit protested.

"What's unfair?" A new voice purred as they approached the three kits, and Jaykit could tell it was Cinderpaw by her scent.

"They ganged up on me!" Lionkit complained while Hollykit oozed triumph from her position with the mouse beneath one of her paws.

"We don't have to be fair," Hollykit mewed triumphantly, "we aren't in StarClan yet!"

"We'll all get there eventually, but for now..." Cinderpaw purred and Jaykit heard a small rush of air as the tabby leaped clear over him and tugged the mouse from his sister's claws while Lionkit pounced on Jaykit, flattening him to the frosty ground in the process. "This mouse is mine," she mewed cheekily.

"What? I thought you were on my team!" Lionkit complained before Jaykit threw him off so he careened into Hollykit in a ball of tangled paws and tails.

"I'm on nobody's team," Cinderpaw mewed, "then it would be unfair if I did that now wouldn't it?"

"I see Cinderpaw's become a kit for the afternoon," Stormfur purred lightly as he paused beside them on his way to the warriors' den. "But it's leafbare, we should thank StarClan for every morsel."

Jaykit felt embarrassment floo in waves from the embarrassed apprentice but she defended herself somewhat. "I was just teasing them," she mewed hotly before seeming to calm down somewhat, "They're just practicing their hunting skills."

"Yeah!" Lionkit added as he detangled himself from his sister and pranced for to them,"we have to practice!"

"After all," Jaykit pointed out, "we're going to be apprentices soon."

Stormfur was silent for a moment; then he stretched forward and gave Jaykit a quick lick between the ears. "Of course," he murmured. "I was forgetting."

Frustration flared in Jaykit's belly. Why did the whole Clan treat him like a newborn kit when he was nearly six moons old? He shook his head crossly. Stormfur wasn't even a proper ThunderClan cat! His father, Graystripe, had once been ThunderClan's deputy, but Stormfur had grown up with his mother's Clanmates in RiverClan, and his mate, Brook, had come from far away in the mountains. What right did he have to act superior?

Hollykit's rumbling stomach distracted Jaykit from his annoyed thoughts. "How about we eat the mouse instead of playing with it?" she suggested.

Cinderpaw purred and her purr became muffled as Jaykit guess she picked up the mouse, "or how about I eat this instead?"

"No way!" Hollykit shot back and tackled the apprentice, "give me the mouse back!"

Lionkit helped and the two kits brought down the bigger she-cat while Jaykit turned toward the heap of prey caught by the warriors that morning.

A faint odor disturbed him. He took in a deeper breath, opening his jaws to draw the scents into his mouth: he could smell Hazelpaw's freshly killed thrush and Mousepaw's mice, their blood still warm. But below there was a sour smell that made his tongue curl. He padded past his brother, his tail held stiffly behind him.

"What're you doing?" Lionkit asked from where he and Hollypaw were working together to pull the mouse from Cinderpaw's jaws.

Jaykit didn't answer as he nosed his way in among the small dead bodies, gripped a wren with his teeth, and pulled it free. "Look!" He mewed and rolled the bird over with a paw. The creature's belly was alive with maggots.

"ugh!"Hollykit squealed.

"Gross!" Cinderpaw gagged before she complained, "oh come on Hollykit! That was so unfair!"

Hollykit gave a squeak of triumph as she pulled the mouse away from Cinderpaw.

Leafpool emerged from the elders' den, a wad of moss -the scent of mouse bile on it was so strong that he could smell it over the rotting wren. She paused by the four young cats, "well spotted," she praised Jaykit and dropped the bile-soaked moss at her paws. "I know prey in scarce at the moment, but better to eat nothing than to eat something that will hurt your belly."

Cinderpaw gave a disgusted snort, "I'm sorry but that's just gross."

Leafpool nodded, "it's not very appetizing is it?" Jaykit felt her gaze shift to him, "you save me a patient Jaykit, and I'm busy enough as it is. Brackenfur and Birchfall have white-cough."

Cinderpaw froze up at the sound of her father's name. "Oh."

"Do you want help gathering herbs?" Jaykit offered eagerly, he had never been out of the camp, and he was desperate to explore the forest. He wanted to smell the boundary markers; up till now he had tasted only the weak scents of ShadowClan and WindClan carried from the borders on the pelts of ThunderClan patrols. He wanted to feel the breeze fresh off the lake, untainted by the scents of the forest. He wanted to learn where the markers were along each boundary so that he could defend every pawstep of his Clan's territory.

"You could gather far more herbs with us to carry them back to camp!" Lionkit inputted.

Cinderpaw broke in, "You're not supposed to leave camp till your apprentices remember?"

Jaykit ignored her, "you'll need help if there are sick cats Leafpool…" Leafpool silenced him by flicking the tip of her tail over his mouth. "I'm sorry, Jaykit," she meowed. "It won't be long until Firestar gives you your apprentice names. But until then, you'll have to wait like any other kits."

Jaykit understood her meaning. Their father was the Clan deputy, and their mother was Firestar's daughter; Leafpool was reminding them yet again that it did not entitle them to special treatment. His tail twitched crossly. Sometimes it felt like the rest of the Clan went out of their way to make sure he and his littermates _never_ got special treatment. It wasn't fair!

"I'm sorry," Leafpool meowed. "But that's just the way it is." She picked up the foul-smelling moss and padded back to the medicine den.

"Leafpool always thinks she can win us over just because she brings wool for our nests from the moorland," Jaykit hissed. "Or pieces of honeycomb to lick. Why can't she just give us what we really want—a chance to explore outside the camp?"

Hollykit swished her tail over the frozen ground. Jaykit knew she wanted to explore beyond the camp walls as much as he and Lionkit did. "But she's right," she mewed grudgingly. "We must stick to the warrior code."

Then Lionkit asked the apprentice next to them, "can you take us outside?" He asked with a plead in his mew.

"Sorry guys, but you have to wait," Cinderpaw mewed and Jaykit heard Cloudtail call her name. "I gotta go, don't sneak out okay?" She then raced off, leaving the three kits alone.

The three kits then ate, sharing the mouse and a vole between them. As Jaykit washed his face afterward, drawing his paws over his ears to give them a thorough cleaning, he noticed Brook emerging from the warriors' den to join Cloudtail and Brightheart in the sun. She carried a different scent from the other warriors, the scent of mountains and tumbling water. It seemed to make her the strangest of all the cats who were not Clanborn. Was it just her scent, Jaykit wondered or was it something more he sensed in the mountain she-cat—some wariness that had never left her? He could not quite put his paw on it, but he was sure that Brook felt out of place here in the forest.

A rustle in the thorn barrier that protected the entrance to the camp signaled Berrypaw's return. Daisy's third kit charged over to the fresh-kill pile and threw down his catch—a plump wood pigeon.

"Where's Brambleclaw?" Berrypaw called out to the kits. Brambleclaw was Berrypaw's mentor, and Jaykit could not help but feel a small pang of jealousy that Berrypaw spent so much time training with Brambleclaw when his own paws ached to hunt in the forest with his father.

"He's with Squirrelflight," Jaykit replied. "They're checking for loose stones." He pricked his ears, listening for the sound of his mother's and father's voices. He could not hear them, but the breeze blowing down from the cliff behind the medicine den carried their scent.

"Up there," he told Berrypaw, lifting his nose toward them.

"You're sharp today, Jaykit!" Berrypaw meowed. "I wanted to show him my pigeon and ask him if we were doing battle training after sunhigh."

Jealousy gnawed harder in Jaykit's belly. _Why can't I be an apprentice now?_

"You must be really good at hunting." Lionkit sighed, clearly thinking the same thing.

"It's just practice," Berrypaw told them. "Look." He crouched down. "This is how you begin."

Lionkit's belly swished against the ground as he tried to copy Berrypaw.

"Get your tail down!" Berrypaw ordered. "It's sticking up like a bluebell!"

Lionkit's tail slapped against the frozen earth.

"Now pull yourself forward, smooth as a snake," Berrypaw commanded.

"You look like you've got wind!" Hollykit crowed.

Lionkit gave a playful hiss and leaped at her, rolling her onto the ground. She fought back, purring with amusement while Lionkit pummeled her belly with his hind paws. They were so busy in their play fight that they did not notice the sudden noise outside the camp.

But Jaykit did.

Cats' paws were pounding toward the camp entrance. Jaykit recognized the scents of Spiderleg and Thornclaw. The patrol was returning. But something was wrong. The warriors' paws drummed the forest floor in a panicked rush, their scents bitter with fear.

Jaykit's fur stood on end as Spiderleg and Thornclaw burst through the entrance.

Firestar and Sandstorm were on their paws in an instant.

"What is it?" Firestar meowed.

Spiderleg drew in a deep breath, then announced, "There's a dead fox on our territory!"


End file.
